HONOLULU, Hawaii -- Few players join the PGA Tour with the fanfare that has accompanied Jason Day's ascension, but for any young player, there is a learning curve, and in his case he already has received his first lesson: Honesty is not necessarily the best policy.

At 20, Day is the youngest player on the PGA Tour, and his victory last year in the Nationwide Tour's Legend Financial Group Classic made him the youngest in history to win a PGA Tour-sanctioned event.

Late last year, the Australian prodigy told the Australian newspaper, the Herald Sun, that his goal is to be the No. 1 player in the world. "I'm sure I can take him down," he said of Tiger Woods. "I want to measure myself against Tiger Woods … There's a lot of pressure and you try to handle it. All I want to do is work hard, win tournaments and catch up with Tiger. At 19, Tiger didn't win a tournament as a professional. Next year on the tour, I've got to win two tournaments, because that's what he won and I want to try and keep up with him. It's a big ask for a 20-year-old kid on his first year out on the PGA Tour."

Day has been stung by the predictable backlash. He has been widely criticized -- often, he said, by those citing only the phrase "I'm sure I can take him down" and ignoring the greater context of his overall remarks, that, "It's a big ask."

"I don't understand it," Day said at Waialae CC, where he was making his debut as a member of the PGA Tour, in the Sony Open. "There are so many guys who want to be number one, but I chose to be honest about it and they crucified me.

"I'm still going to be working hard to get to the number one spot, and that's Tiger Woods," said Day, who shot 73-70 and missed the cut. "I know it's not going to be given to me."

-- John Strege

HONOLULU--Spencer Levin has never lacked for confidence, which he boldly demonstrated by traveling to Honolulu to attempt to Monday qualify for the Sony Open in Hawaii. The odds of succeeding in Monday qualifiers are not especially good--here, 64 players were attempting to qualify for four spots. To travel 2,500 miles to make the attempt is a leap of faith.

Levin's belief in himself paid off; he shot 67 at Makaha Resort and G.C., to make the field, then shot a three-under-par 67 at Waialae C.C. in the first round of the Sony to put himself on the leader board.

"If I don't make it (in qualifying), I'm in Hawaii," said Levin, who by virtue of tying for 42nd at the PGA Tour Qualifying School has full Nationwide Tour status. "If I don't make it, I was going to make a vacation out of it. In the meantime, I would get a little competition in."

Levin, 23, has not played in a tournament since the Qualifying Tournament. The Nationwide Tour does not begin until Jan. 24.

Last year, Levin played on the Canadian Tour, winning twice, on consecutive weeks. He introduced himself to the golf world when, as an amateur, he shot a 69 in the first round of the 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, a round that featured a hole-in-one at 17, his first swing following a rain delay. Eventually he tied for 13th and was the low amateur.

Lately, he has played well in practice at home in the Sacramento, he said, but came here expecting nothing.

"I never expect anything," says Levin. "When I play, my goal is to play my hardest on every shot."

--John Strege

HONOLULU, Hawaii -- Michelle Wie has been the headliner of the Sony Open in Hawaii since she first played in it in 2004, as a 14-year-old amateur, and nearly made the cut. This year, she was not offered a sponsor's exemption, and there is scant evidence that she ever played here.

The Honolulu Advertiser, for instance, had a 20-page special section in advance of the Sony Open, and her name appeared only twice, and both times in stories on other players. She wasn't mentioned until the 12th paragraph of a story on Tadd Fujikawa and the 15th paragraph of a story on Paul Goydos. In the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, it was the eighth paragraph of a story in Wednesday's paper before she was mentioned.

A native of Hawaii, Wie has been displaced as a teen idol by Fujikawa, a 17-year-old high school junior and a Honolulu resident who tied for 20th in the Sony last year as an amateur. Fujikawa is playing this year as a professional.

Moreover, a second 17-year-old Honolulu golfer is in the field as well, Alex Ching, a high school senior who gained a spot in amateur qualifying.

Wie, it turns out, is not only gone, but forgotten as well -- for the moment, anyway.

-- John Strege